Real Tag
Real Tag, released in Japan as Riaru Onigokko: Animated Movie, is a 2018 American adult computer-animated suspense action-horror film produced by Glass Ball Productions, Chernin Entertainment, Scott Free Productions and Toho with animation provided by Creative Step Studio. Written and directed by Ash Brannon, it is a loose remake of the 2015 Japanese horror film Tag by Sion Sono, which in turn is based on the novel Riaru Onigokko by Yusuke Yamada, and stars the voices of Chloë Grace Moretz, Anne Hathaway, Dakota Fanning, Tiffany Haddish, Kristen Wiig, and Jennifer Connelly. The film follows a high school girl who is cast adrift into an increasingly bizarre set of alternate realities in which each scenario ends in bloody carnage. Real Tag premiered in Sydney, Australia on October 1, 2018 and was released in Japan on October 5, 2018 by Toho. It was released in the United States by 20th Century Fox on October 26, 2018 in Real D 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX. It was also the last Glass Ball film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox as a standalone distributor before The Walt Disney Company took control of a majority of its assets on March 20, 2019. The film has received universally negative reviews from critics, fans and people that aren't familiar with the original Japanese film, who criticized its inconsistent plot and unfaithfulness to the source material, although Moretz's performance was largely praised. The film was also a huge box office bomb, grossing only $294.2 million worldwide. Plot Mindy, a quiet high school girl, survives a gust of wind which slices through her school bus, bisecting everyone else on board. She manages to escape the gust of wind, which chases her and kills all the other girls she comes into contact with. Dazed and surrounded by numerous dead high school girls, she cleans herself off and changes into another schoolgirl's clothes and stumbles onto a different high school campus. She is greeted by girls named Amy, Sur (short for "Surreal") and Tanya. Not knowing who they are, Mindy confesses to Amy that she cannot remember if she ever attended this school and believes that she had a nightmare about girls being killed by a gust of wind. Amy reassures her that it was just a nightmare and proposes that they all cut class and go to the woods to cheer her up. In the woods, the girls muse about whether destiny is truly predetermined and whether there are multiple realities with multiple versions of themselves. Sur illustrates predetermination with a white feather, stating that it would mean the time it takes for the feather to fall and where it will land are all decided already. Mindy wonders if there is nothing she can do to escape destiny, but Sur suggests that fate can be tricked by simply doing something one would never normally do, thus changing the outcome. The girls happily return to school. Amy and Mindy's homeroom teacher begins class, but suddenly brandishes a machine gun and opens fire, killing all the girls except Mindy. Before she can fire another round, Sur and Tanya burst in, grab Mindy, and the three hide. Another homeroom teacher, who has just killed her own entire class, finds and kills Tanya and Sur. Mindy and the remaining girls flee the grounds, running for their lives as they are gunned down. One of the girls recognizes Mindy and pleads for her to do something and think about why this is happening. The remaining girls are then sliced apart by a gust of wind. Mindy continues to run, and then finds herself in increasingly surreal situations where her identity and appearance change: first, as a bride named Karen on her wedding day, who is forced to marry a grotesque groom with a boar's head while her guests (all girls from the previous school) jeer at her, then later as a student named Izzy in the middle of a marathon, flanked by her friends and well wishers (again, made up of the girls from the school and wedding ceremony). In each scenario, she is supported by a version of her friend Amy, who either readies her for combat or distracts her attackers, made up of the groom and the two homeroom teachers from before. In every scenario, she must flee while the surrounding girls are slaughtered in various ways. After encountering a group of reverent girls who try to kill her after stating that so long as she lives, they all will continue to die, she is once again rescued by Amy. Amy tells her to focus and remember that although she is both Karen and Izzy in these scenarios, she is ultimately Mindy. After returning to her original appearance as Mindy, Amy tells her that the two of them and all the girls are in a fictional world being observed by "someone" and that they will continue to hunt Mindy down and try to kill her while slaughtering the other girls unless Mindy, as the "main character", does something to change it. Each of the scenarios she encountered is a different world, and to reach the final one, Amy tells her that Mindy must brutally kill her. Urged on by Amy, Mindy reluctantly kills her and a portal opens up before her. Mindy finds herself in a lewd, dingy city called "Men's World" filled with only men who pervertedly enjoy a poster advertisement for a "legendary" violent 3D survival horror video game called Real Tag, depicting Mindy, Karen, and Izzy as playable characters. She passes out and awakens in a temple where all the girls from the various scenarios are showcased like mannequins. She arrives at a room where a decrepit old man is playing the game on his TV, showing the various trials she went through. Mindy is horrified to see full size models of herself, Karen, Izzy, Amy, Sur, and Tanya behind a glass display case. The man tells her that she is in the future and that 150 years ago, she was a girl he had admired as a fellow student. When she died, he managed to take her DNA and that of all her friends and make clones for his 3D game. A younger version of the old man appears beside a bed and strips down, beckoning her to come to bed with him. The old man tells her that the final stage is the fulfillment of his deepest wish and he tells her to succumb to her destiny. Instead, Mindy attacks the younger man, screaming at him to stop playing with girls like toys. She rips one of the pillows, showering the room with feathers. Remembering what Sur said about tricking fate, Mindy then commits suicide by stabbing herself, to the shock of both the old man and his younger self. Finding herself once again in the beginning of each of the three game scenarios, she simultaneously commits suicide on the bus, at the wedding chapel, and during the marathon before any of the violent scenarios can begin. Mindy then awakens alone in a field of white snow, gets up, and runs away, realizing that "it's over now." Cast *Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy, a quiet high school girl. Her Japanese counterpart is Mitsuko. *Anne Hathaway as Karen, a bride who is forced to marry a grotesque groom with a boar's head. Her Japanese counterpart is Keiko. *Dakota Fanning as Izzy, a student who is flanked by her friends and well wishers in the middle of a marathon. Her Japanese counterpart is Izumi. *Tiffany Haddish as Amy, one of Mindy's friends. Her Japanese counterpart is Aki. *Kristen Wiig as Sur. She is the only character in the film that shares the same name as her Japanese counterpart. *Jennifer Connelly as Tanya. Her Japanese counterpart is Taeko. *Dee Dee Rescher as June. *Jennifer Hudson as Linda. *Joyce Kurtz and April Lawrence as homeroom teachers. *Ash Brannon as the old man in the future who managed to take Mindy's DNA and that of all her friends and make clones for his 3D game, Real Tag. **Brannon also voices a younger version of the old man. *Jennifer Hale as Bus Driver *Lauren Tom as Background Girl Additional Voices * Stephen Apostolina * Kirk Baily * Rajia Baroudi * Susan Boyajian * Niall Cunningham * Robin Atkin Downes * Johnny Gidcomb * Jean Gilpin * Nicholas Guest * Sean Kenin * Lex Lang * Susan Leslie * David Michie * Sariann Monaco * Dina Morrone * Joey Naber * Arthur Ortiz * Juan Pacheco * Paul Pape * Devika Parikh * Jessica Pennington * Al Rodrigo * Michelle Ruff * Nick Shakoour * Justin Shenkarow * Dennis Singletary * Justin Grant Smith * Shane Sweet * Dean Wein * Ruth Zalduondo * David Zyler Production After the release of the original Japanese Tag film in 2015, Glass Ball Productions president Clive Nakayashiki saw the film and decided to do an American remake. In December 2015, Glass Ball announced that the film was in development, with 20th Century Fox distributing worldwide and Toho handling distribution in Japan. Will Finn was originally the film's director, but was replaced by Ash Brannon. By April 2016, Fox set the film, titled Real Tag, for a October 26, 2018 release. In June 2017, it was announced that Chloë Grace Moretz, Anne Hathaway and Dakota Fanning were cast to provide the lead voice roles. The film was animated by Creative Step Studio. The characters were created in photo-realistic-like animation combined with motion-capture, a first for the company. Its animation has various similarities to those of other films with similar animation like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), Beowulf (2007), A Christmas Carol (2009), and The Adventures of Tintin (2011). The film initially received a NC-17 rating by the MPAA due to the nonstop graphic violence of the film as well as a graphically realistic sex scene at the climax. This caused Fox to forcibly remove some of the violence from the film as well as removing an handful of scenes, which resulted in massive transition and continuation issues. The studio also reportedly had never shown any support of the development of the project to begin with. The film's budget was originally in the $130 million range but skyrocketted to $200 million after tax rebates, Toho's fees to the film, and the $15 million pay to Chloë Grace Moretz and Tiffany Haddish. Release Real Tag was released by 20th Century Fox on October 26, 2018 in the United States. The film is accompanied by the independent short film Alleycats. Due to the film’s content such as its strong violence, nudity and graphic language, the film didn’t secure a release date in China. The first trailer was released on June 22, 2018 and was shown before Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Uncle Drew, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Due to the popularity and preference of IMAX in 2D (as opposed to 3D) among filmgoers in North America, the film was shown in IMAX theaters in only 2D domestically, but was also screened in 3D formats internationally. The film has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual references, and brief drug use." Home Media The film was released on Digital HD on December 25, 2018 while the DVD and Blu-ray was released on January 15, 2019. Reception Box office Real Tag ''grossed $31.9 million in the United States and Canada and $262.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $294.2 million. With the production budget between $170 million and $200 million as well as $150 million more spent on promotion and advertising costs totaling $350 million, the film will need to gross at least $550 million in order to break-even. On December 2, 2018, the film surpassed ''The TeenV Movie ($288.3 million) to become Glass Ball's highest grossing film of all time until being surpassed by Havoc on the Planet of the Apes ''a year later. A week after its worldwide debut of $32.2 million, ''Variety wrote that the film would lose Fox "tens of millions of dollars" off a projected final total gross of $200–250 million. while The Hollywood Reporter estimated the losses would range from $80 to $120 million. In November 2018, in response to the film's poor commercial performance, director Ash Brannon tweeted he was proud of the film, and sorry that fans were not turning out to see it, but was happy for those who had enjoyed it. Dani Di Placido, blogging on Forbes.com, described Real Tag as "a bad idea, with a surprisingly good execution." In March 2019, Deadline Hollywood calculated the film lost the studio $137.4 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. North America In the United States and Canada, Real Tag was released alongside Hunter Killer, Johnny English Strikes Again, and Suspiria, and was projected to gross $17–19 million in its opening weekend with a chance to go as high as $21 million. However, after making $3.2 million on its first day (including $900,000 in Thursday night previews, both the lowest of all time for Glass Ball Productions), estimates were lowered to $10 million. It later ended up grossing $9.8 million, the lowest grossing opening weekend gross for Glass Ball while landing in fifth place with the weekend being topped by holdover Halloween ($32 million) being their first film to not be No. 1 in its opening weekend which led to the film being reportedly labeled as a box office bomb. Deadline Hollywood attributed the film's underperformance to poor critic and audience reactions, negativity from fans, and competition from Halloween, Venom, A Star Is Born, ''and ''Cool Spot ''(which is another Gingo Entertainment property) which were all older releases still going strong at box office. ''Forbes blogger Scott Mendelson also attributed this to the absence of notable movie stars. Despite the presence of Wiig, "like any number of would-be big stars who are best known for a certain genre, her opening weekend strength dips when she's not playing her usual act." Outside of the Despicable Me ''and ''How to Train Your Dragon franchises, her biggest opening is The Martian ''($54.3 million) which the film failed to reach. it’s second weekend, the film dropped 65.4% grossed $3.4 million while falling out of top 10 in box office. In its third weekend, the film was pulled from 2,012 theaters and grossed a mere $762,100. International ''Real Tag ''opened on October 5, 2018 in Japan, Russia, and Ireland. In Japan, it grossed $7.3 million on its opening day and $22.1 million in its opening weekend, both the biggest of all time for Toho while it grossed $600,000 in Russia and $1.2 million in Ireland. In it's second weekend in Japan, it grossed $9.2 million, while in its third and fourth it grossed $3.1 million and $1.3 million respectively and to date, has grossed $43.2 million there. Outside North America, the film opened in 63 overseas territories, with the UK, Mexico, Germany, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Russia receiving the film the same day as in North America, and was projected to debut to $25 million. It ended up under performing, and grossed $13.2 million. The film was released in India, which is it's final market on November 9, 2018 where it was expected to gross $20 million in its opening weekend. It later ended up undperforming there with a gross of $6.2 million. Critical response On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 9% based on 102 reviews with an average rating of 3.2/10, making it the first Glass Ball film to earn a "rotten" certification. The site's concensus reads, "''Real Tag may get a few scares out of audience, but fails to reimagine the Japanese horror in its inconsistent plot and unfaithfulness to Sion Sono's original work." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. Transcripts Main To see the main transcript of the film, click here. Trailers To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here. Category:Films Category:2010s Category:2018 Category:Real Tag Category:Glass Ball Productions animated films Category:20th Century Fox films Category:20th Century Fox animated films Category:Non-Universal films Category:Tag Category:Films directed by Ash Brannon Category:R-rated films Category:Animated films Category:Computer animated films Category:3-D films Category:Adult films Category:Remakes Category:Films based on books Category:Horror films Category:Co-produced films Category:IMAX films Category:Box Office Bombs